Best hops for dry hopping

[mikecshultz]

Hey all,
Long time reader, first time poster. Ok, I have only been reading for a week. I just started my first batch ever. I am doing an IPA from a kit that I got from northern brewers. It had me add in 1oz of chinook hops at 60 min, then half an oz at 10 and 1. It also tells me to dry hop an additional oz 1-2 weeks before I bottle during my secondary fermentation. I have two questions: 1) I want to add at least another oz of hops during the dry hop, but I was wondering if anyone had ideas for hops besides chinook that I could use, which would go well with the chinook. 2) how long should I dry hop for? The recipe tells me to do the secondary fermentation for 2-4 weeks, but I am not sure when I should put the hops in. Can I leave them in there for too long? I would appreciate any help you could give me. Btw it is a 5 gal batch.

 

[unionrdr]

Always wait till the beer gets down to Fg before dry hopping. Then give it 3-7 days to settle out clear or slightly misty before dumping in the hops. I use hop sacks with no more than 1oz per sack to dry hop for 7 days. That's usually plenty. You could add an ounce of cascade. That's a classic IPA hop. Or amarillo. There are many low to medium AA% hops that you can dry hop with. It depends on what kind of aroma/slight bit of flavor you want.

 

[TopherM]

There are lots of hop guides online. About 3/4 of hops are best suited as flavoring or aroma hops, and about 1/4 are best suited as bittering hops. In general, you want to dryhop with higher alpha acid aroma hops for a big aroma or lower alpha acid flavoring or aroma hops for something more subtle (not many reasons to have a subtle dryhop). The hops descriptions will tell you the kinds of aromas they produce, and when it comes to a dryhop you aren't ACTUALLY adding any flavor, but just the aroma will contribute to the perception of the flavor, so pick out one that compliments the rest of the brew, i.e., citrusy hops with a citrusy IPA, earth hops with an earthy IPA, peppery hops with a spicy Belgian, etc..

Most people typically just dryhop with the same hop (s) they used as the aroma hop (s) (<10 min additions)!!

Good luck!!

 

[CastleHollow]

Cascades or Centennial would complement Chinook as an aroma hop. You can dry hop for the last 5-7 days before bottling.

 

[unionrdr]

Since our nasal passages are linked to the roof of the mouth,smell & taste are linked. Hence my remark about adding a bit of flavor,albeit subtle. I still think amarillo or cascade would do it.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

It's all really personal preference. I personally like Centennial and Amarillo for dryhopping the best, but I like many others too. Take a whif of some different hops and you will find out what aroma they will contribute during the dryhop

 

[mikecshultz]

Thanks a bunch. This has been super helpful. I am going to the home brew shop by my house this weekend to smell and pick out some hops. Thanks again.

 

[Kmcogar]

I'm not sure this works for your brew now but I just dry hopped the crap out of an ipa with Columbus hops and it won a blue ribbon. My friend used nothing but citra in his last ipa and it smelled even better then mine! Cheers

 

[theveganbrewer]

I can't really get the difference when smelling the actual dry hops. I like to smell beers and then research which hops they used and make notes. I dry hop with Citra, Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo. Not all at once, but generally, those are my dry hops.